Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29
By Ilkin Shafiyev – Trend:
The second phase of construction of the Baku port can be completed before the scheduled date, the Ph.D Khudayar Hasanli, a source in the government told Trend.
"According to the strategic road map, the second phase of the port construction should be completed by 2025. However, depending on the interest of shippers, and the growth of cargo transshipment volumes, it can be completed before the deadline," the source said.
At the end of the second stage, the capacity of the port will be increased to 25 million tons of cargo and 500,000 containers per year.
The main task of the port is to attract cargo transported from China to Europe in the longer term, said the source.
"A new port has been created in Alat, and it has both railway and road. This allows us to attract transit cargo. The old port was in the center of the city, which created some inconvenience. A very good place was chosen for the new port. Now our main goal is to attract cargo transported from China and Europe. China intends to create many alternative routes for cargo transportation, and we intend to take advantage of this," added the source.
The source said the establishment of a single tariff policy throughout the itinerary of cargo movements is an important issue in this regard.
"The introduction of a single tariff policy and the principle of "one window" is very important in terms of increasing the attractiveness of the transport route. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia established the International Association of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TCITR) with its office in Astana in 2016. Ukraine, Poland, Romania and China are going to join it now. Single tariff policy allows the sender, whose cargo passes through the territory of several countries, say from China to Europe, to make only one payment for the delivery of goods – to the Association," the source said.
Earlier it was reported that Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine can create a joint venture to implement the principle of "single window" in the processing of goods transported along the Trans-Caspian transport route (TMTM). It is expected that new competitive tariffs will be established for transportation through TMTM this year. At the same time, the transportation plan for 2018 for TMTM was approved at the level of more than 3.5 million tons, meanwhile it is planned to transport about 15,000 containers from Turkey to Kazakhstan, Central Asia and China.
The port in Alat, which will become the largest port in the Caspian Sea, is an important part of Azerbaijan's transport infrastructure. The first phase of the port construction, which has already been completed, will allow transshipment of 15 million tons of cargo and 100,000 containers per year.
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